


i walk in the valley of shadow

by fallenidol_453



Category: István a király - Szörényi/Bródy/Bródy & Boldizsár
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, I'm just trying to come up with what happens to Réka after the musical, Rating is for general things you might find on a decayed battlefield, background mention of possible rape and suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:28:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25156255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenidol_453/pseuds/fallenidol_453
Summary: Réka can run all she likes, but no place is truly safe.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 1





	i walk in the valley of shadow

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own István a király; all rights go to Boldizsár Miklós, Bródy János, and Szörényi Levente.
> 
> Fic title is partially inspired by the song Hallowed Ground by The Alarm.
> 
> I tried to avoid using "pagan" to describe the people loyal to Koppány throughout the fic, given that in some translations of Elkésett a békevágy he detests being labeled pagan for refusing to worship God, and I wanted to keep with that... spirit, so to speak. I'm not sure if I succeeded entirely, but I did try to make an effort.

The battlefield where Koppány's army was routed is a decaying sea of bodies and jutting weapons. Réka breathes through her mouth to not smell the stink and rot, and treads carefully upon the bloodied ground. Flies and carrion birds fly all over the place, gorging on the rotted feast around her. In the far off distance, she can see small pockets of looters roving the field, stripping the dead of anything that’s left. This long since the battle, the most valuable of the armor, weapons, and other valuables have already been snatched up, but even the most opportunistic looter might be able to find a knife or two among the carnage.

It'd taken days to get here. She was exhausted, but knew she couldn't let her guard down just yet. King István--or worse, his mother--could have sent knights after her to hunt her down and kill her. She wouldn’t be surprised if all of the knights knew what she looked like; she hadn’t made herself inconspicuous when pleading for her father’s body.

And ahead lay dangers of a nastier sort. If she puts a foot wrong here then she might impale it on something sharp. The looters might see her and kill her to eliminate competition if they were unscrupulous enough. Or, seeing a lone and defenseless woman, they might resort to rape. Worse scenarios ran through her head as she clutched her crucifix and walked on. She doesn't go in a straight line, and stays as close to the edge of the battlefield as she can. If any of the looters spot her and pursue her, she can safely run away and not harm herself.

She stoops down beside a fallen, disemboweled mare when the packs of looters are nothing more than pinpricks in the distance. This close, the decay from the horse makes her retch on the ground, but she manages to find a small dagger on a nearby fighter’s corpse. She tries to take its sheath too, but it’s too hard to remove without attracting unwanted attention, so she takes the knife instead. She has something to defend herself with at last - or to kill herself, if it comes to it.

(It’s a sin to steal, but God will forgive her for just trying to survive. Surely He understood?

She begins praying for forgiveness anyway. A prayer for the slain knight she just stole from, a prayer for her father, and lastly a prayer for herself.)

The thick cover of trees on the other side of the battlefield is her destination, but that would bring its own dangers if she ever reaches it. The shattered remains of her father's people--those who had escaped being routed and killed in battle or captured and forced to convert--would no doubt begin looking for her once they learned she was still alive.

They would be much harder to evade, knowing the woods as well as she did. As Koppány's only living descendant, there was no doubt the survivors would use her for their own ends if they got a hold of her. She may not have been born a boy, but they could make her conceive a child and hopefully give birth to a son to carry on his grandfather's defeated campaign. Or put her on a pedestal, use her as a symbol of the religious independence they had fought for and so bitterly lost, unaware that she had already converted to the Christian faith.

Being Koppány's daughter was doing her absolutely no favors at the moment, wasn't it? King István's people likely wanted her dead just because she was of Koppány's bloodline, and her father's people wanted her alive for that exact reason.

All the better to hide, then. If she can't hide in the forest, then a small and anonymous convent - if any have been established in Hungary - will do. If not that, then she would continue running until she dies.

**Author's Note:**

> The mention of Koppány's people who "escaped being routed and killed or captured and forced to convert" is a reference to Veled, Uram!, István a király's sequel, where a small group of people loyal to Koppány are shown lighting a bonfire in his memory at the start of the show. 
> 
> I just thought it'd be neat to reference it.


End file.
